San Bernardino police officer shooting suspects plead not guilty

Jonathan Contreras, 20, left, Gonzalo Medina, 22, and Orlando Cruz, 24, defendants in the shooting of San Bernardino police officer Gabriel Garcia, stand with Medina’s attorney Mark R. McDonald during an arraignment on Wednesday at San Bernardino Superior Court in San Bernardino. The defendants pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer and one count of possession of an assault weapon and are being held without bail.
Micah Escamilla – Staff Photographer

SAN BERNARDINO >> The three men charged with attempting to murder police Officer Gabriel Garcia and a police trainee pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Jonathan Contreras, 20, Gonzalo Medina, 22, and Orlando Cruz, 24, all of San Bernardino, appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court with attorneys and a few family members, as four San Bernardino police officers attended in support of Garcia.

District Attorney Michael A. Ramos charged each defendant with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer and one count of possessing an assault rifle.

According to the criminal complaint against them, the three men knew that shooter Alex Alvarado had an AK-47 and that the two men who were shot at were police officers. Alvarado, 38, shot Garcia in the head shortly after 2 a.m. Friday, police say, and was fatally shot by the police trainee, whose identity remained undisclosed Wednesday.

The three defendants were not armed.

Garcia remained in a medically induced coma at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton on Wednesday. If he survives, the maximum sentence for the charges is life in prison.

The principle of charging those who aid and abet such crimes with attempted murder is sound, said Orange-based attorney Mark McDonald, who represents Medina. The question is whether the defendants participated in or encouraged the shooting.

“These cases traditionally are very tough to link up,” he said, referring to the fact that none of the three defendants are accused of pulling the trigger. “If he’s just standing there, that’s not aiding and abetting.”

McDonald said he’d read the three-page criminal complaint, but he’d spoken to his client for only about 15 seconds and had gotten most of his information so far from the media, so he was reserving comment on the specifics of the case.

Medina would never support the shooting of an officer, said Andrea Valdez, who has lived with him for eight years.

“I do feel bad for him because I understand he has a kid,” Valdez, tears in her eyes, said of Garcia. “My kids are going to (be in the same situation). ... He’s a really good person, he’s a really good father. He would never hurt anyone.”